Saturday Night Live hosted by Jeff Bridges with musical guests Eminem and Lil Wayne averaged a preliminary 2.9 rating with adults 18-49 in the 25 markets with Local People Meters. That's down just a tenth from last week's season high preliminary 3.0 adults 18-49 rating when Paul Rudd hosted with musical guest Paul McCartney (note: in the final numbers last week's telecast scored a 2.7 adults 18-49 rating and 7.6 million viewers, season highs for both).

via NBC press note:

In late-night metered-market households Saturday night:

“Saturday Night Live" (4.9/12 in metered-market households) hosted by Jeff Bridges with musical guest Eminem, dominated its time period. "SNL" was the #1 telecast of the night in metered-market households, topping all primetime programs on ABC, CBS, NBC or Fox.

Versus the same night last year, "SNL" is up 11 percent (4.9 vs. 4.4). Note that current metered-market averages are based on Nielsen “live plus same day” data while ratings for earlier years were drawn from “live only” results.

In the 25 markets with Local People Meters, “Saturday Night Live” averaged a 2.9 rating, 12 share in adults 18-49 and was the #1 show of the night in the Local People Meters, ahead of all primetime telecasts on the English-language broadcast networks. "SNL" finished within a tenth of a point of last week's 3.0, the show's top rating in the Local People Meters since the season premiere on September 25.